Hold That Check Before You Cash: Dover Police Warn Against Scam

DOVER, MA — It's everyone's dream to get a letter in the mail saying you've won millions of dollars, an overnight millionaire — but scammers are cashing in on this fantasy by printing and mailing their own fake checks. Dover police said residents in town have found such letters int heir mailbox and are warning people not to cash the checks.

Dover Police Chief Peter McGowan said a resident received a letter on Tuesday that was supposedly from the the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes stating he had won a lump sum of money. All he had to do was cash the check that was mailed to him, but the man found the letter suspicious and brought it to police instead.

It was a fake and served as a cautionary tale in sweepstakes scams. Police said residents who cash the checks, they bounce and the resident gets debited the full amount of the check by their bank. Police warned that the forged checks look real, and are real enough to pass banks' initial scrutiny.

They added that if you receive a check like this, to report it to the police and do not cash it. "Only do business with people you know," McGowan said, "In the words of our almost victim today, 'If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."